At the International Compliance Association we find ourselves discussing money laundering issues almost constantly. One of the reasons that I love my job is that I get to discuss the finer points of anti money laundering regulations with other like-minded people.

A good way to get an eye-catching headline these days is to carry out some research predicting the death of cash, now that we are all abandoning notes and coins in favour of smartphone apps, contactless cards and mobile payments.

Beneficial ownership is a phrase likely to leave the average person baffled and probably not very bothered. But it’s a concept set to attract much more interest over the coming months and years, thanks to the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4MLD), and the central registers of beneficial owners that it will introduce.

A high percentage of Switzerland's surface is covered by the Alps. The melting of glaciers, located at the top of the mountains, generates flows of clean – and essential - water for a wide range of ecosystems downstream

We don’t know who originally had the idea for committing financial crime, although what is said to be the first recorded incident of fraud – involving a Greek merchant called Hegestratos, an upfront payment for transporting a cargo of corn and a failed plan to scuttle the ship carrying it – dates back to around 300 BC.

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